January 2012

Outlook 2012 look at the trucking industry as it braces for an onslaught of regulations. Additonally, there is an update to the Super Truck project that aims to build fuel-efficient vehicles as it enters the next stage.

Patrick E. Quinn, co-chairman and president of U.S. Xpress Enterprises, passed away December 13, 2011, following a long battle with brain cancer. A 40-year veteran of the trucking industry, he and co-chairman Max Fuller founded U.S. Xpress in 1985 with just 48 trucks, growing the company over the last quarter century into a $1 billion transportation conglomerate operating 8,500 trucks.

According to ACT Research Co. (ACT), Class 8 orders ended 2011 with the second-best order month in six years as Class 8 net orders rose to 30,293 units. ACT said that, when seasonally adjusted, December’s orders were the best since April - and resumed the stronger order trend that has been observed since August...More

An 8.7% spike in the number of people killed in crashes involving large trucks in 2010 compared to 2009 is igniting debate on several fronts – regulatory and otherwise – concerning the trend line where trucking safety is concerned....More

A recent survey of 380 fleets operating everything from over-the-road tractor trailers to delivery trucks and buses found that the price of fuel tops their list of worries, with reducing costs related to crashes coming in a distant second...More

Two leading truckload carriers, U.S. Xpress and CRST, have both announced recently that they will expand into the refrigerated trucking market. Both plan to use team drivers to expand their reefer fleet business...More

Things are looking up to carriers for the year ahead, according to Transport Capital Partners’ (TCP) 4th Quarter 2011 Business Expectations Survey. The survey showed 61% of carriers responding expect freight volumes to increase in 2012 and only 7% expecting volumes to decrease. Both larger and smaller carriers responded similarly...More

Kawasaki, Japan. Designated as the global hybrid development center for its parent Daimler Trucks, Mitsubishi Fuso has begun work on a diesel electric hybrid system for on-highway heavy-duty trucks...More

PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay North America said it will roll out 10 new electric trucks in Orlando as part of the largest planned fleet of commercial all-electric trucks in North America. In total, Frito-Lay will deploy 176 electric trucks this year in the U.S. and Canada, making Frito-Lay the largest commercial fleet of all-electric trucks in North America, according to a company announcement....More

A temporary “user fee” is being proposed within a new Senate-sponsored bill to help fund tax credits for natural gas vehicles (NGVs) and the construction of refueling infrastructure to support them....More

DEARBORN, MI. Ford Motor Co. proudly claims it sells more commercial vehicles than any OEM in North America. To maintain that dominance, the company must always be innovating and expanding its lineup to match the needs of commercial customers. And that includes the new gasoline engine Ford offers in its F-650 vehicle...More

Class 4-7 truck maker Hino Trucks and Allison Transmission recently hammered out a multi-year, long-term agreement that makes Allison transmissions the preferred and exclusive unit for all current and future Hino conventional trucks sold in the U.S....More

A boom in aftermarket truck parts demand is poised to keep gaining strength into next year as fleets large and small continue to extend their truck ownership cycles to cut down on vehicle acquisition costs....More

TOKYO. The next generation of diesel-electric hybrid trucks are the big stars at the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show, which is marking the return of commercial vehicles to the show floor after a four-year absence...More

DEARBORN, MI. For those who can’t wait to see the full-size Transit van from Ford Motor Co., you may only need to look out your window the next time you hit the highways. That’s because Ford announced that the European vehicle, slated to begin production in the U.S. in 2013, is already here and in some select customer’s hands for testing...More

Truck Matters LLC has introduced Recruiting Matters, which the company said is a comprehensive new product that brings together “an arsenal of tools intended to expedite the truck driver recruitment process and increase driver retention.”...More

A series of eight videos have been released by Prophesy Transportation Solutions. The series focuses on different sections of the trucking and logistics software solutions company’s web-based, pay-as-you-go Prophesy OnDemand solution...More

Wireless technology firm Telular Corp. has announced it will acquire SkyBitz, Inc. for $42 million in cash and stock. SkyBitz is a provider of mobile resource management solutions focusing on tracking and management of truck trailers, intermodal containers and other mobile assets...More

PHH Arval has partnered with ZoomSafer to field what it calls the fleet industry’s first smartphone app that detects when employees are driving and then automatically encourages safe smartphone use....More

Pilot Flying J has launched an Android version of its MyPilot smartphone app. The truckstop/travel center operator said the new app is “designed to assist professional drivers and motorists as they plan trips and stop to refuel and refresh while on the road...More

ALK Technologies has announced a new group, the Enterprise Solutions group, to support its PC*Miler, CoPilot Truck and CoPilot Live Professional product lines as well as map data, software tools, and other professional services...More

As the nightly winter weather forecasts begin to drift into problems related to snow storms, roads closed to trucks and jack-knifed semis, others are looking at severe weather as a golden, if chilly, opportunity...More